Unrealistic Reality TV

The obsession with my newly found identity crisis led me to believe that the labels put on SAHM’s strictly came from the 50’s and 60’s Susie Homemaker persona; however, the eruption of shows like The Real Housewives of… (pick a city, any city) has 21st century housewifery represented as gossiping cats with faux fur who claw at each other at social events. This new 21st century housewife has no responsibilities except to keep a high social standing and the obligation to hold fundraisers for charity. Even though their benevolence could be viewed as noble, I can’t help but see it as just a trend in their world.

Can you call yourself a housewife if you have no other responsibilities other than social calls and keeping up appearances? Anyone with a nanny and a housekeeper should be stripped of their housewife title. The producers of these shows should find a real housewife from Kentucky (the land of little opportunity) attempting to raise three kids while trying to make something of myself (I mean, herself) so that she can get out of an increasingly bad neighborhood. She should also be driving a car that has more french fries in it than McDonald’s. These women who live in poverty and middle class are the “real” housewives of the nation. No wonder we, the real housewives outside of unrealistic reality TV, are suffering from an identity crisis. We are caught between the perfect Susie Homemaker persona and the could-you-bring-the-car-around fiction wife. When is reality TV about women going to show some reality? The only program that portrays truth is “Snapped.”

This misrepresentation of today’s SAHM’s makes me twice as eager to rise above the labels and properly represent what we stand for. In the meantime, I will keep watching “The Real Housewives of New York” for research. Ok, I am a blogging contradictory – I’m addicted to the show that infuriates me but I am human and it is a train wreck that I can’t take my eyes off of and I am weak.